That They May Have Life
The whole purpose of Jesus coming was LIFE.
Jn10:10 NIV The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
We have an enemy and we have a Savior, and each of their objectives are made clear. Jesus is a giver of life, Satan is a thief. The enemy’s plan is the very opposite of life for us: to steal, to kill and to destroy. It’s a sneaky trick that he’s reversed those roles in the minds of many, with God appearing to be some cosmic killjoy and the enemy masquerading as the likable, mischievous one offering “freedom” and “fun”.
The Father’s design for you is not only life, but abundance. You see that in the Amplified of that same scripture.
Jn10:10 AMP I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].
So God’s desire is that you would be experiencing abundance in life! That’s good news because he is the Author of life. All of creation points us to Him. He spoke in the beginning and there was life… and He’s still speaking.
Jn10:10 MSG I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
Jesus’ way is real life… leading to eternal life. I like how the Message translation describes it as “more and better life than they ever dreamed of”.
When we follow Jesus we should be ambassadors for life, billboards for a better way.
In fact it’s a crime that those representing the Author of life should be dull, dry, selfish, over-serious or negative all the time. Is there evidence of His life in us?
When I’m traveling people often ask me what line of work I’m in and I love to have them guess. I’ve gotten some great answers but no-one has ever gotten close to getting it right. I guess I enjoy the fact that I confound society’s stereotypes of a ‘pastor’. When I eventually caved and told a London cabbie recently that I was a pastor I said, “Would you believe I’m the pastor of a church” he said, “No, I wouldn’t actually”. He’s used to the idea that the church is old, irrelevant and all but dead.
Life is infectious. I visited a church called ICF in Zurich a few weeks ago and the passion in the culture of their staff was evident everywhere I went. Little wonder when I walked into their office that one of their core values was there on the wall… “Excited About Life”. It showed. And it’s helped them establish a network of 60 vibrant churches across Europe in a day when many might wrongly assume the church was gasping its last breath.
“We need to learn the lesson of knowing life. For life depends not on how enthusiastic is our emotion or how manifold is our thought; it rests exclusively on whether the Lord has manifested His own self. There is therefore nothing more important than knowing the Lord. As we are knowing Him, we are touching life.”
(From “Christ the Sum of All Spiritual Things” by Watchman Nee)
Each of us are created with eternity in our hearts, a hunger for true life. We say things like “they’re living the life” or “that’s the life”… as if life is a thing, when in fact life is a person.
Life is a person.
Mk8:34-36 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
This phrase in v35 is in all four gospels, in fact two of them record it twice. It’s in losing our life that we find it in Him.
Jn14:6 NIV Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It’s not just that Jesus knows the way or leads the way, it’s that He is the way.
He doesn’t just speak truth or know truth, He is the truth.
He doesn’t just give life, or add to our life…
He is the life.
So let’s show the world His life in us.
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